That was an annihilation. Man City just showed that they are the defending Treble winners as they utterly SMASHED the newly promoted Burnley 3-0 to start off their four-peat title-seeking season.
The best thing Burnley did all match was having their fans try to take out the City players from the stands.
In what really was no surprise given the drastic standings between the two clubs, Man City destroyed and humbled the newly promoted Burnley by a score of 3-0 in the Premier League season opener. And, to be honest, the most interesting thing about this game was the fan interactions…or should I say interjections in the game.
Okay, I really don’t know why the Premier League schedule makers decided to make the opening match of the 2023-24 Premier League season, a campaign which is going to be defined by the wide-open title race between the traditional Top-6 and the encroaching newcomers to the top end of the table, a wide-open relegation battle between the struggling Premier League sides of last season versus the newly promoted teams, the hundreds of millions spent in the transfer window by all the 20 top-flight sides, and whether or not Man City can cap off a historic four-peat, with a Burnley vs. Man City match.
Don’t get me wrong, having Man City as one half of the opening act of the new season is never a bad idea as they are coming off not only three straight Premier League title wins, but they also won the FA Cup and the Champions League to be only the second side in English football history to complete the Treble (League title win, FA Cup win, Champions League win).
Along with boasting of superstars like Kevin De Bruyne (who unfortunately got injured today), Erling Haaland, Ederson, Phil Foden, Bernado Silva, Rodri, and Pep Guardiola himself, Man City are easily the most marketable and fascinating team to watch in all of world football.
And if you want the literal antithesis to that glowing praise for Man City, it’s Burnley.
Yes, the club is one of the founding members of the English football league (founded all the way back in 1888) and has had sustained Premier League success in the past (they were a top-flight team during the 2014-15 season & from 2016-2022), but the team is most synonymous for being the second coming of Stoke City.
A brutal, tough, grueling team to face off against who would give everything they had into every tackle and challenge…to make up for their lack of talent.
Hell, this is the blub that made Sean Dyche famous!
New manager (and Man City legend) Vincent Kompany has admirably transformed the team into a more high-tempo, aggressive-pressing unit that favors an attacking approaching rather than a pragmatic one, while the team did finish on top of the Championship standings by a whopping 10 points and a +52 GD.
But it’s one thing to be great in the Championship and an entirely different thing to be great in the Premier League. And Burnley found that out today.
From the literal get-go of the match (to be more specific, three minutes in), Man City took the lead through Erling Haaland (as if it could be anyone else) and then saw Haaland and Julian Alvarez beautifully connect for Haaland and Man City’s 2nd goal of the match just 32 minutes later. And, to make matters worse, Haaland’s second goal came after a spell of Burnley domination.
Rodri’s rebound goal in the 75th minute capped off Man City’s domination as the reigning champions finished the match with 66% possession, 17 shots (Burnley had 6), 8 shots on target (Burnley had 1), just under 700 completed passes, and 5 corners.
Simply put, Burnley were never going to be able to contend with Man City on their best of days, and today was most certainly not one of them as their fans throwing lighters onto Rico Lewis and streaking the field to run after Julian Alavarez was the most interesting part of their performance.
They weren’t awful, but they completed lost heart after City went up 2-0 and really couldn’t get back in the game…which is to be expected of a newly promoted club against the reigning champions. And, as they do, Man City pounced and tore Burnley’s heart out when they smelt blood in the water.
Game 1 of the new Premier League season is over. 379 matches to go.
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